Gulf nations questioned on refugee intake

In the oil-rich Gulf, GCC states have been absent from talk of helping with the refugee crisis (Reuters)

As hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees languish in camps or risk their lives to reach Europe, questions are being asked about why wealthy Gulf states have accepted so few.

By the end of August, more than four million Syrians had fled their country, but very few if any refugees have been officially accepted by the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have donated billions to help refugees, but are facing increasing scrutiny for their apparent unwillingness to accept migrants.

Many are asking why, as one of the greatest migration crises of modern times unfolds, are fellow Arab countries, with similar cultural and religious values and a relative proximity compared to Europe, doing little to help resettle people?

Crucially, that criticism is being voiced not just in the West, but within the region itself.

In recent days, social media users in the Gulf have employed various hashtags including "#Welcoming_Syria's_refugees_is_a_Gulf_duty" to voice their disgust with the perceived inaction of GCC states.

"The Gulf countries have to be ashamed when they see Europe's doors open to Syrian refugees, while they close before us," Abu Mohammed, a 30-year-old Syrian refugee now living in Jordan, told AFP.

An influx of Syrian refugees has swamped Europe, with Germany alone expecting 800,000 new asylum applications this year and efforts under way to organise the relocations of tens of thousands more.

But in the oil-rich Gulf, GCC states have been absent from talk of helping with the refugee crisis.

"Tragically, the cash-rich Gulf countries have not yet issued a statement on the crisis – much less come up with a strategy to help the migrants, who are overwhelmingly Muslim," Qatar's Gulf Times newspaper wrote in a recent editorial.

Sultan Al Qassemi, a prominent Emirati blogger, wrote that the time had come for Gulf countries to take the "moral, ethical and responsible step" of changing their policy towards accepting refugees.

Even the distraught father of Aylan Kurdi, the three-year-old Syrian boy whose body washed ashore in Turkey, said at the funeral of his wife and two children: "I want Arab governments not European countries to see what happened to my children and, because of them, help people."

The Gulf nations have hardly stood on the sidelines during Syria's conflict, however, providing significant financial assistance to refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.

At the same time they have been among the most ardent opponents of President Bashar al-Assad, backing the mainly Sunni rebels who have risen up against his regime, which is supported by their Shiite regional rival Iran.

For some in the Gulf, the criticism should be directed instead at Western governments, saying it is their failure to fully back and arm those fighting Assad that is behind the refugee crisis.

"European and American officials facing their short-sighted policies must welcome more Syrian refugees," a former Qatari diplomat, Nasser Al-Khalifa, wrote on Twitter.